Steam Cloud in Windows OneDrive

[True Rock]

I finally figured out that my internet issues involve a 12 GB folder of Steam game saves:

C:\Users\bsmith\OneDrive\Online_Books\Documents\My Games\

It would be much better for me if they were in my Steam folder located at

E:\Steam

How do I make Steam put my game save files in my Steam folder instead of OneDrive?

[BlackOut]

There is no option for you to do that, you can only set a path for external screenshots. Best option you can do is disable onedrive or have your onedrive keep your files on your computer or create a local account and just use that for steam and it will save normally in the C:\Users\<Profile>\Documents.

[N3tRunn3r]

It is not a Steam's issue, it is a OneDrive's issue which uploads everything located in your Documents directory .. One directory OF MANY ..

Various games save their savegames and other stuff as screenshots or gamesettings into this Documents directory.. And OneDrive uploads them all .. In other words, this is NOT the Steam Cloud ..

Besides "the real" Steam Cloud, I never use OneDrive nor any other Clouds, you should uninstall OneDrive from your system.. On a fresh Windows install, it is the very first step for me to uninstall OneDrive from my system!! It is very intrusive, sucks all of your data and influences your system performance at worst .. !!

[True Rock]

Thanks guys.
Very helpful.
I was kinda thinking thinking what you said was the case.

Couple of things...
This is a Windows and OneDrive issue. Not so much a Steam issue.

I set the Steam C:\Users\bsmith\OneDrive\Documents\My Games folder
to "Always Keep On This Device" which is a Windows File Explorer setting that keeps Microsoft OneDrive from unexpectedly uploading and downloading files from OneDrive.

I do think it would be a good idea for Windows applications and games to not use the
C:\Users\xxxxx\OneDrive\Documents
folder. It just creates unnecessary complications.
It would be better if games kept their save files inside their own directories.

[N3tRunn3r]

There are even more and addtiional hidden directories .. as inside

..\%appdata%\Local
and
..\%appdata%\Roaming

..not to mention inside
C:\ProgramData\

[Chalupacabaras]

Originally posted by N3tRunn3r:

There are even more and addtiional hidden directories .. as inside

..\%appdata%\Local
and
..\%appdata%\Roaming

..not to mention inside
C:\ProgramData\

Then there's the "Unknown Account" permissions that the user can't remove even through Administrator privileges, and doesn't show up in the Registry.

As for OneDrive, it is possible to uninstall the program and disable it through registry. However, Steam Client will install a clone version onto your machine based on where you installed Steam Client. So if you install the Client directly into a drive folder, the OneDrive clone will operate as the drive folder. If you install it via a Desktop folder, the clone will be localized to the Desktop but a lot of your games won't work properly.

A lot of people might freak out and get upset, make crazy rants about government spying and whatnot. On the other hand, backdoors work both ways so Microsoft and Valve shouldn't be too surprised when malware starts hitting their servers courtesy of the Steam userbase's personal consumption of furry, H-anime and Hub-type adult websites.

We're dealing with people who can't count to three, not exactly brain trusts of Big Tech.

[Wolfpig]

Originally posted by True Rock:

I do think it would be a good idea for Windows applications and games to not use the
C:\Users\xxxxx\OneDrive\Documents
folder. It just creates unnecessary complications.
It would be better if games kept their save files inside their own directories.

MS recommended to use the own documents folder for such stuff more then a decade ago as everything is at one place and easy to find by users.

Where a application stores the stuff in the end is a decision of the developers, nothing ms or others decide.

And it is not a Windows or one drive Problem.
If you do not want your cloud to upload everything then set it up correctly (if needed) so that it only syncs the stuff you want.